Death Defier- Vol. 2: Desire Cassette

Curmudgeonly misers that we are, it’s very rare that a post-hardcore band formed after 1997 impresses us, but Death Defier made the cut. In a genre that so often feels like a retirement plan for aging, low-T, ex-hardcore dudes with beards, Death Defier manages to capture the youthful energy and vitality that is so essential to making post-hardcore not suck complete and total ass.

This is further assisted by the fact that even though the band’s sound is fundamentally rooted in the early to mid 90s, it doesn’t really feel like a throwback. Instead, this is a sort of post-post-hardcore, informed both by the original wave of bands and by the additional 30 years of hardcore that followed it. There are the recognizable notes of Jawbox, Orange 9mm, Fugazi, and the like, but there’s also more than a little End Of A Year, Give, and Praise in the mix, all underlined by an urgency and raggedness that sonically anchors it to hardcore in a way that many of their 90s forebears weren’t. Throw in the fact that all the tracks here are between 2 and 2.5 minutes long and it’s obvious why Death Defier eclipses many of their peers.

Long story short, this shit rocks. As opposed to feeling like some cloying attempt to play guitar music that appeals to IPA dads, this is post-hardcore with no apparent aspirations to “level up” or “be mature”. It’s just high energy music with a little too much melody and a few too many ideas to fit squarely in the hardcore mold. If it’s good enough for us, it’s good enough for you bozos.